The movie has been wracked with controversy, and the target of boycotts, but despite all that, ‘Ender’s Game‘ had a strong showing at the box office earning $28 million in the North America.
Still, any hope of a sequel, presumably based off of Orson Scott Card’s actual sequel, ‘Speaker of the Dead’, seems to be dashed according to Hollywood analysts.
While $28 million is usually considered a decent box office opening, the fact that the majority of those who went in to see the movie were over the age of 25. However, the youth turnout (which the film was being marketed to) proved to be lackluster.
In an investor’s note on Monday, MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler wrote:
“The film did not draw well from young adults, despite the book’s popularity. Roughly 54 percent of the audience was over the age of 25. A good but not great CinemaScore of B+ is not likely to hold moviegoer interest, with Thor: The Dark World opening next week.”
In addition, Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Wunderlich Securites, noted:
“Ender’s Game has a credible $28 million U.S. opening but not a plausible start of a new franchise for Summit Entertainment and OddLot,”
The numbers should not be such a surprise. The book was published in 1985, and the most of the youth who had read and were enraptured by the story usually lay in the over 25 range.
The projected profit for this budgeted $10 million movie is $75 million, and though it has a strong opening, the fact that it will soon be up against the ‘Thor: The Dark World‘ and ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire‘ seems to suggest that this projection may be correct.
Though time will tell how much the movie will make, the fact that there will not be a sequel is a lot more certain.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
